Three Strikes & You're Deported

In an interesting new twist on the idea of the 'three strikes and you're out' law, a wheelchair-bound polio victim who won five gold medals representing Great Britain is to deported. Vincent Onwubiko's crime: driving his specially adapted car while disqualified after twice being convicted of careless driving, once after jumping a red light. His sentence: five months in prison.

Now the criteria for deportation of so-called 'foreign national prisoners' is that they are over 17 years old, have been convicted of a serious criminal offence which carries with it a prison sentence (usually of 1 year or more) and the sentencing court have recommended that s/he be deported once s/he has served their sentence. There is also a general presumption that the continued presence of the prisoner is not 'conducive to the public good' and that this consideration outweighs all over factors, unless deportation would breach the individual’s human rights or his rights under the European refugees convention.

So how is the continued presence of someone who has been in the country for 16 years, who has n 11-year-old daughter and who has represented his adopted country with distinction at the highest level in his chosen sport (weight-lifting) not 'conducive to the public good'? Maybe we should ask the judge who threw out his judicial review or the government whose deportation of 'foreign national prisoners' target headboard Vincent is today to become yet another notch on?

So, at 43 years old and no longer able to compete for Team GB, GB and his cronies have deemed him surplus to requirements, given him 3 months supplies of painkillers and will put him on tonight's 22:05 Virgin Atlantic Airways flight VS651 to Lagos.